Schizophrenia
by fallen-chan
Summary: Everything began to fall apart so many years ago but no one had been able to tell that he was a broken shell who never really was until now. AU, Character death, almostInsane!Naruto


**Disclaimer: If you read, you'll clearly see that I don't own Naruto (unless the anime/manga's undergone _drastic_ changes...)**

_'Thoughts'_

* * *

Almost no one in Konoha felt particularly regretful over the disappearance of the "demon brat" – they regretted many different aspects of his disappearance, such as the fact that their beloved Uchiha heir had left that week as well, but they were overjoyed that the demon-made-flesh was gone. Their celebration was mixed with grief for the supposed-betrayal of the Uchiha heir (which was, of course, attributed to the hopefully-dead blond) and anger that the Hyuuga genius had been badly injured but, nevertheless, it was remembered as one of the largest celebrations ever held in Konoha. As the days became weeks and then months, most people began to forget that the Kyuubi brat had ever existed, going on through the motions of everyday life without even a slight pause. There were very few people who cared to remember Naruto Uzumaki now – few people who remembered the tormented look in sapphire eyes that had gradually morphed into one of hatred before their very eyes… 

_--Flashback--_

"_Where is he?!"_

_Sakura burst through the crowd of people waiting at the main gates of Konoha, surprising Kakashi; and she grabbed Naruto by the back of his dirtied, bloodied orange jacket. _

"_Where's Sasuke-kun?!"_

_Her desperate cry was echoed by Ino, who also pushed her way past the crowd of people; and the civilians began to whisper amongst themselves when the hated demon brat failed to provide a response._

"_What did you do to him?!"_

_Never mind that he was covered in grime and blood, Naruto dimly thought to himself, his eyes struggling to stay open as he stared up at the two girls through blurred eyes. After all, they only cared about _Sasuke_ and he cursed himself for being a fool and thinking that, just maybe, Sakura would have realized what a jerk the Uchiha truly was. _

"_Sakura, you should let go of hi-" Kakashi began only to find himself rudely cut off as the pink-haired girl paused in her questioning just long enough to hear the blond's muttered response. _

"_He…he's gone."_

_**Gone.**_

_That one word spelled the beginning of the end for Naruto Uzumaki's time in Konoha – upon hearing that, Sakura and Ino had burst into hysterics, the former wildly shouting that it was impossible and that Naruto had deliberately driven the Uchiha away. As the girls were escorted away by their parents – who, Kakashi noted unhappily, avoided the blond as though he were the plague – the crowd of people began to whisper to each other. Tsunade had taken advantage of the momentary distraction to carry Naruto into the hospital and as the doors closed with a soft 'click', the jounin absently mused that perhaps entering through the main gates hadn't been such a good idea. _

_The next day, the village abounded with wild rumors regarding the disappearance of Sasuke Uchiha. The most conservative followed the story told by the shinobi – that Sasuke had gone to seek the power with which he could avenge his family – and the wildest spoke of the demon brat's overwhelming hatred for the beloved Sasuke Uchiha, who had been the paradigm of all that was good and holy. The demon had grown jealous, they whispered to each other, expressions of grief briefly marred by maliciousness and petty anger. He decided that the Uchiha had to be killed and took advantage of the chance to murder the last Uchiha, heir to a once-mighty clan. Before dusk of the next day, many of the villagers believed the latter story to be true and, drunk from grief and a blind hatred, they gathered outside the hospital and the Hokage's tower, demanding that justice be delivered upon the blond. The Village Council, seizing the chance to get rid of a menace and put the Hokage in her proper place, was immediately convened and they reached a near-unanimous decision for once. Their ultimatum was this: as a just punishment for the desertion and possible death of Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki was sentenced to a public execution in one week's time. Not even Tsunade's most desperate and impassioned pleas were able to persuade the Council to overturn their decision – even the power of the Hokage had limits – and the most leniency they were willing to give was to exile the blond from Konohagakure on pain of death. _

_Tsunade was saved the pain of making the decision herself – on the night of the fourth day, Naruto Uzumaki had appeared in her office, escorted by Jiraiya, and the blond had spoken six words that had shattered her world. _

"_I'm leaving. Don't look for me."_

_There was a never-before seen hardness in his eyes and the busty blond woman had protested, repeatedly telling the boy-teen she considered to be a little brother that he was innocent and that he didn't need to leave. As soon as she mentioned Sasuke's name, however, Naruto's face had twisted into that of an embittered demon and he snarled, his fists clenched as he spat out that he wasn't leaving because of what the "god-damned villagers thought." The blond had left then, brushing past a startled Jiraiya and Tsunade to jump out the windows and disappear over the rooftops, leaving behind nothing save confusion, regret, and an overwhelming sadness. _

_--Time Skip--_

Naruto bared his teeth in a feral smile that almost frightened the few renegade shinobi who had declared him their temporary leader. It was a dark, overcast day and the weather would provide the perfect backdrop for a battle that would prove, once and for all, that he was superior to the _beloved_ and _precious_ Sasuke Uchiha. He licked his lips, accidentally cutting his tongue open with a sharp canine; and the blood died his lips a bloody crimson as the sun began to rise from behind the looming cloudbank.

"Today" he growled, and there was a rough, wild edge to his voice as his eyes danced about, burning with bloodlust and an overwhelming hatred for the one person who had effectively destroyed his life. "Today…you die, Uchiha!"

He snarled, claw-like nails digging into the bark of a nearby tree as he grabbed a branch, forcefully yanking it off the tree, and lit it in the smoldering remnants of the fire of their transient camp.

"Draw him out" he ordered, bringing the fire up above his head before whirling, throwing it in the direction of nearby Otogakure and ignoring the startled cries of the lesser shinobi – _sheep being herded to a slaughter_, the insidious voice in his mind commented with a dark amusement. The fire caught the dry_dry__**dry**_ wood of trees that had been derived of proper nutrition and rain for months and even from this distance, he could smell the smoke and hear the crackling and popping as a deadly inferno began to form. This battle would be one fought on _his_ terms, _his_ turf; and this time, he would either become the victor…or take Sasuke into death with him.

The blond smirked, baring his teeth again before stalking off into the rapidly-growing flames as he heard the sound of alarms sounding somewhere in the near distance – no doubt Otogakure had noticed the conflagration – and he found himself staring at a rapidly disintegrating cage while angry crimson bubbled around him, pooling on the ground and burning his feet and legs.

"Ashes to ashes" he mocked, even as the crimson began to engulf him, seemingly oblivious to the scent of burning flesh and the feral growling and snarling coming from behind the bars.

"Fool" the demon rumbled, rising to its full stature and swatting at the bars, which trembled under the force of the casual blow. "You are born from me and I am born from everything you mortals fear and worship – nothing, not even some ephemeral seal, can hold me back."

Naruto laughed, the sound tainted by a latent insanity that was slowly rising to the surface; and he stared up at the demon with fearless eyes that bordered on madness.

"Delusions, all of this is make-believe" he taunted, falling, _falling_ into the rising sea of crimson that bubbled and frothed angrily. "How much longer before everything shatters and ruins all your carefully-crafted illusions?"

The demon remained silent for a few moments, instead batting at the bars with a clawed paw; and a triumphant look passed over his unnatural face when first one bar, then two simply melted away. "I fear nothing" he snarled, bringing up his paw for another swat at the bars. "Say goodbye to everything" he sneered, striking the bars once again and bounding through the melting metal, crimson flying everywhere as he stood above the small, insignificant figure.

"You can't hide from them" the blond replied in a brief moment of lucidity before his face melted back into a mask of lunacy, eyes wild as he cackled in high pitches. "Can't hide, can't run, they're going to come and drag you down with them and we'll all burn forever and ever until everything is remade from all the blood and ashes and dust!"

His words echoed in the massive chamber as the demon snarled, attempting to crush the pesky mortal with a paw only to find that the blond human's face was staring up at him from inside his paw, still laughing.

-----------------------

When the blond-turned-demon delivered Sasuke Uchiha's dead body to the gates of Konohagakure, it was exactly three in the morning on the Friday the 13th and he wanted to laugh – _the Devil's hour, he had heard some of the guards whispering once. The only thing more cursed than serving watch now is serving watch at this time on a Friday the 13__th_ He stifled a bark of hysterical laughter – he would prove the rumors right and when they discovered Sasuke's broken body displayed before their gates he would laugh, knowing that the Uchiha's death marked the end of an era. He heard an angry hiss behind him and he did laugh this time, jumping away from where he had been standing to land in the depths of the forest as he turned his attention to one of two men standing there.

"Come to see the body?" he mockingly asked, his eyes bleeding from a false sapphire to crimson and back again as a furious Orochimaru and an impassive Itachi watched him with golden and crimson eyes. "He made the prettiest sounds when I cut him" the blond confided to the men, easily avoiding the kunai thrown at him by the Snake Sannin and laughing when Itachi's eyes narrowed in response. "You should have heard him, screaming in the end and bleeding so prettily over everything."

Not-Naruto laughed, throwing his head back as peals of laughter escaped from him, just loud enough so that the sentries heard him before he disappeared.

"What are you going to do now, _Orochimaru_?" he asked, his voice little more than a snarl-laugh carried on the wind. "Now that your precious _Sasuke_ is gone and they're hunting for you, ready to drag you down with them."

When the Snake Sannin attempted to pinpoint the blond's voice, there was nothing but empty air and forest – no sign that the blond had ever been there – and he could hear/sense the Konohagakure shinobi approaching. His lips curled up in an angry snarl before he too left the scene at the same time as Itachi; he had no wish to engage the Konoha shinobi in battle, not now.

'_One day, boy…I'll get my revenge on you one day, just you wait.'_

-----------------------

When they found Uchiha Sasuke's dead body outside the gates of Konohagakure, the entire village was shocked into some kind of silent stupor as they were forced to meet the cold, hard facts head-on.

"_Didn't the demon kill him?"_

"_How–what happened?"_

"_Who __**did**__ this to him?"_

"_What–did he _really_ leave on his own?"_

It took the combined efforts of Asuma and Kurenai to stop Ino from loosing her mind in grief and Sakura was just as badly off – Kakashi found her weeping at Team 7's old training grounds, slumped against a post with kunai and empty sake bottles littering the ground around her.

'_Underage drinking?'_ the one-eyed jounin absently thought to himself before he turned his attention to the more serious problem at hand. The pink-haired girl was lost in grief – over who, he didn't know – and, even though she had been partly responsible for driving Naruto away years ago, he felt some pity for the girl.

"…all my fault – asked _him_ to bring him back – gone – and now they're both gone and Sasuke's dead and Naruto's gone and it's all my fault!"

Sakura slammed her hand down onto the ground, not seeming to notice the shards of broken glass that dug into her hand.

'_All my fault.'_ The words sounded oddly familiar to Kakashi and, for once, the jounin found himself sympathizing with the girl because he too knew what it was like to have two missing_dead_ teammates.

'_Maybe…she __**has**__ grown…'_

As he walked over and forcefully pulled the pink-haired girl up, leading her towards the hospital, he glanced over his shoulder at the memorial stone.

'_First Obito…then Rin…then sensei…and now __**you**__, Naruto, and Sasuke…how many more will die?'_

The stone had no answer for him and Kakashi was left to wonder as he left with his last remaining student.

'_If you're alive…where __**are**__ you…Naruto?'

* * *

_**A/N:** If you've read _Redemption_, then you'll probably notice that this is quite different from that particular story...most of my Naruto writing is turning out to be like this, however. There's a not-quite sequel to this that's already written and I've got plans for a sequel to that. Anyways, please read and review? 


End file.
